Hanging on to the upper rim of Makua valley, Kahanahaiki gulch is a Kahanahāiki Gulch pocket of mesic forest, one of the last remnants of native forest in Makua valley. Mesic forests are one of the most imperiled forest community types in the Hawaiian islands. They are characterized by an annual rainfall of 1,200-3,800mm occurring mainly between October and March. The substrate tends to be well drained and can range from rocky, shallow, organic muck soils to steep, rocky talus slopes, shallow soil over weathered rock in steep gulches, or deep soils over soft weathered rock and gravely alluvium (Wagner, Herbst, Sohmer 1990). Kahanahaiki has most of these soil types in just a 150 acre area. It is also considered a diverse mesic forest containing a rich variety of native with no clear dominant species. Kahanahaiki is home to seven endangered species including Schiedea nutallii, Schiedea obovatum, Cyanea superba, Diellea falcata, Cyrtandra dentata, Flueggea neowawrae, and Cenchrus agriminoides, Nototrichium humile, Lepidium arbuscula the endangered snail Achatinella mustelina, and the endangered Oahu Elepaio, a native fly catcher. Over the past two years, the Army’s Environmental Division has been proactive in conserving this rare natural resource. The exclosure around Kahanahaiki gulch was completed in December of 1996, and the feral pigs have been removed. Weeding projects, starting in the most intact areas, are improving the regeneration of the intact forest community. Monitoring and collecting propagules of the endangered plants will hopefully bring them from the brink of extinction. The rare and endangered animals are being monitored and predator control measures such as poisoning , is helping their lot. Please enjoy this unique opportunity to experience this rare forest type but ‘Iliahi () we also ask you to kokua and be aware of your surroundings. Since the removal of the pigs there is a lot of native seedling recruitment which we must be careful not to step on. If you are part of a weeding project make sure you are weeding a weed and not a native! If you are not sure, it is better to leave it or ask an expert. Snails are beautiful but are also federally listed and one must have a permit in order to handle them, please feast your eyes but don’t touch! We appreciate your interest and hard work, thank you very much!

Species list Plants Rare plants

Alsinidendron obovatum endemic DIRECTORATE OF PUBLIC WORKS CARYOPHILLACEAE (Pink family) UNITED STATES ARMY GARRISON, HAWAII DESCRIPTION: Erect branched subshrubs 3-10 dm tall, glabrous; thick and SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI 96857-5000 somewhat fleshy, elliptic, 4-11cm long 2.5-6 cm wide; 7-12 in somewhat 656-7641, 656-2878, 656-7471 (FAX) congested cymes; bell-like, white.

Kahanahai’iki Cyanea superba endemic

CAMPANULACEAE (Bellflower family) DESCRIPTION: Palm-like 4-6m tall; leaves are oblanceolate 50-100 cm long, USES: sacred plant of the hula goddess, Laka; tools, weapons (); dyes 10-20 cm wide, densely pubescent on the underside; 5-15 flowered; (capsules); fire making; medicinal (soothe itches/rashes); lei making. conical, tube curved, corolla whitish or cream with purple veins; berries yellow to orange obovoid 16-22 mm long 10-16mm wide. ‘Akoko Chamaesyce multiformis endemic Schiedea nuttallii endemic EUPHORBIACEAE (Spurge family) CARYOPHILLACEAE (Pink family) DESCRIPTION: shiny dark green leaves, 3-5 inches long, one inch wide; milky DESCRIPTION: Erect subshrubs, usually glabrous throughout, leaves opposite, sap; ovoid, three-angled red, green or pink fruiting capsules. green sometimes purple tinged, narrowly obate or lanceolate; flowers perfect, tiny. USES: firewood; canoe hull stain

Diellea falcata endemic ‘Ala’a, Aulu BLECHNACEAE Pouteria sandwicensis endemic DESCRIPTION: Small fern with a thumb like projection on each leaflet, sori spread SAPOTACEAE (Sapodilla family) out on margins with no induzium. DESCRIPTION: Large native tree with smooth oblong leaves, shiny green on the upper surface and bronze on the underside; flowers occur singly or in clusters of two Cyrtandra dentata endemic or four in the axils of the leaves; are pear-shaped, purplish black and up to 2 GESNERIACEAE (Gentian family) inches long. Tree has sticky milky sap. DESCRIPTION: 1.5-5 m tall; stems sparingly branched; leaves opposite, USES: sticky sap was used to catch small birds; house construction (hard wood); borne on upper 3-5 nodes, 9-33 cm long 6-17 cm wide, lower surface velvety, ‘o’o (digging sticks); spears. margins coarsely and irregularly serrate or dentate; flowers 3-9 in open cymes arising in the axils, corolla white, tube cylindrical 12-25 cm long; berries white Alahe’e ovoid. Canthium odoratum indigenous RUBIACEAE (Coffee family) Flueggea neowawraea endemic DESCRIPTION: Large or small tree; oblong dark green shiny leaves 2-3 EUPHORBIACEAE (Spurge family) inches long; flowers grow in clusters at branch tips; they are four or five lobed and DESCRIPTION: Dioecious trees up to 30m tall and 2m in diameter; bark pale about ¼ inch long, white and fragrant; is a black inverted ovoid about 1/3 inch brown, rough and scaly, lenticels abundant, whitish; leaves thin, upper surface long. green, lower surface pale green, ovate-elliptic, margins entire; flowers green with USES: digging sticks; adze blades; black dye (leaves) brownish tips; fruits reddish brown to black , globose, milky sap. Aulu, Lonomea Cenchris agriminoides endemic Sapindus oahuensis endemic POACEAE (Grass family) (Soapberry family) DESCRIPTION: Perennials; culms robust, 30-200 cm tall, swollen at nodes, DESCRIPTION: Trees 6-15 m tall; bark gray, rough, covered with lenticles, internodes short; ligule membranous, upper surface scabrous, lower surface youngest branches yellowish brown tomentose, leaves green with yellow midrib, glabrous, midrib prominent; composed of racemes 5-10 cm long, axis simple, oblong-ovate, 7.5-27 cm long, 3-14.5 cm wide, glabrous, margins entire, densely puberlent; burrs densely pubescent, outer series of bristles numerous. usually somewhat undulate, fruit is 2-3 cm long, exterior is leathery, glossy, obovoid black. Common natives USES: house construction; spears; medicinal- laxative (); soap substitute (fruit); lei (seeds) ‘A’ali’i viscosa indigenous ‘Ie’Ie SAPINDACEAE (Soapberry family) Freycinetia arborea indigenous DESCRIPTION: Shrubs or small trees with reddish brown to dark gray bark. PANDANACEAE (Screw pine family) Leaves are simple, lanceolate 3-10 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, often wrinkled. DESCRIPTION: Vine in the same family as hala; stems are ringed and are about an USES: war canoes, paddles, surfboards (hard wood) inch in diameter; branches form every few feet ending in tufts of narrow spiny leaves that may be up to 2 ½ feet long and up to 2 inches wide tapering to a point; Kolea and inflorescence consisting of two to four cylindrical spikes arises form the center Myrsine lessertiana endemic of the leaf cluster, they are about 5 in long, with a diameter of ½ in. MYRSINACEAE (Myrsine family) USES: sacred to the Hawaiian forest god, Ku; binding for outrigger canoes, fish DESCRIPTION: Trees or occasionally shrubs 2-8 m tall, branches purplish brown trap baskets, sandals (fibers from aerial roots); famine food (fruits) to reddish brown, leaves glabrous dark green to occasionally yellowish green, young ones reddish to dark reddish purple, clustered at the tips of the branches, oblong ‘Iliahi elliptic 5-12 cm long, 1.3-5 cm wide, midrib prominent, flowers perfect, 5-15 or Santalum freycinetianum endemic more in bracteate fascicles arising on woody knobs, green tinged purple, SANTALACEAE (Sandalwood family) dupes purplish black, globose to ovoid. DESCRIPTION: Shrubs or trees, partially depend on other plants for food, leaves are opposite, feather-veined, up to 4 in long dark glossy green or smaller thick pale Ko’oko’olau green, flowers are perfect, form in panicles are the end of branches or in the axils of Bidens sp. endemic leaves, 4-5 lobed red or green or greenish yellow calyx; fruits are drupelike; ASTERACEAE (Sunflower family) heartwood is scented. DESCRIPTION: perennial herbs or shrubs with opposite leaves, simple and ovate or USES: perfuming (heartwood); heavily harvested in 1800’s for export to the compound with 3-7 leaflets, short or long stemmed; heads may be clustered Orient for wood working or single on long stems at branch tips; flowers are ‘daisy like’, vary in color from white to yellow; fruits are black or dark brown. Kauila USES: medicinal- tea for general sickness, stimulate appetite (stems, leaves, ponderosa endemic flowers) (Buckthorn family) DESCRIPTION: Alternate, thin, oblong to narrow leaves that are grayish or rusty- Kopiko woolly on the underside; petioles are up to and inch long. the wood is hard and red- Psychotria mariniana endemic and-black streaked. RUBIACEAE (Coffee family) USES: hard wood used for weapons. DESCRIPTION: Trees up to 20m tall, branches yellowish to dark brown, leaves narrowly oblanceolate 5-13 cm long, 1.5-6 cm wide, domatia (a portion of a plant Kaulu modified to form a chamber for insects, mites, fungi, or blue-green algae) usually Pteralyxia macrocarpa endemic very conspicuous at the base of the veins along the midrib; flowers are small usually APOCYNACEAE (Dogbane family) glabrous sometimes pubescent in the corolla tube throat. DESCRIPTION: Trees 8-15 m tall, leaves dark green and shiny on upper surface, USES: anvils for beating kapa (hard whitish wood); fuel lower surface paler and dull often brittle, very broadly elliptic 9.2-18 cm long 4.5- 7.7 cm wide; margins revolute or flat, looks like plumeria; corolla tube 7-9 mm Lama long; endocarp with the central and lateral wings or ridges prominent. Diospyros spp. endemic EBENACEAE (Ebony family) Koa DESCRIPTION: Bark is black; leaves are oval or oblong with pointed tips 4-5 Acacia koa endemic inches long; reddish when young but leathery and dark green when mature; male FABACEAE (Pea family) and female flowers are born on separate trees; they are small and occur in the axils DESCRIPTION: Bark is light gray, and smooth when the tree is young, but deeply of the leaves; fruits are small, ovoid, ¾ inches long and bright red when ripe. furrowed longitudinally in mature trees. First leaves are light green, finely divided, USES: medicine and placed in hula alters, fence sacred areas; name suggests consisting of five to seven pairs of pinnae, each pinna with twelve to twenty-four enlightenment. pairs of leaflets; these are replaced by dark green, smooth, stiff, crescent-shaped phyllodes; flowers appear as axillary clusters of small cream-colored balls. fops Maile flattened brown seeds. Alyxia oliviformis endemic APOCYNACEAE (Dogbane family) DESCRIPTION: Shrubby vine, leaves are oval, pointed, and shiny with short stems; ‘Ohe grow in pairs, threes or fours and are 1-3 inches long. flowers grow in the axils of Reynoldsia sandwicensis endemic leaves in groups of 3-4, 1/10 inch long, yellow with four or five short lobes; fruit is ARALIACEAE (Ginseng family) an ovoid drupe ½ inch or longer, black; bark of the stems and leaves are highly DESCRIPTION: Trees up to 20 m tall with a straight trunk and spreading crown, scented when bruised. branch ends thick, nearly fleshy, leaves deciduous in dry season, 20-35 cm long, USES: lei- dedicated to the hula goddess Laka, one of the five sacred plants in leaflets medium or yellowish green on upper surface, lower surface lighter shiny, her alter broadly ovate, 7-10 cm long, margins crenate to serrate; inflorescence 5-30 cm long, buds greenish turning orangish purple. Mamaki, Mamake Pipturus albidus endemic ‘Ohelo URTICACEAE (Nettle family) Vaccinium spp. Endemic DESCRIPTION: Shrubs or small to medium-sized trees. Leaves are variously ERICACEAE (Heath family) toothed about 4 inches long, white beneath, veins on the lower surface are green DESCRIPTION: Shrubs with leathery oblong to nearly circular leaves, about an reddish or purplish; bark is smooth and light brown and is matted with gray, woolly inch long, margins are finely serrated, bluish green or grayish green; flowers hairs on young branches; fruit are dry brown achenes embedded in a white tasteless develop singly in leaf axils and are usually red; fruits are round about 1/3 inch in receptacle diameter, are either red, orange or yellow. USES: kapa (bark); medicinal- laxative (fruits); rope and cordage (fibers); herbal USES: fruits are highly prized for their flavor. tea ‘Ohe mauka Manono Tetraplasandra oahuensis endemic Hedyotis terminalis endemic ARALIACEAE (Ginseng family) RUBIACEAE (Coffee family) DESCRIPTION: Trees 3-10 m tall, leaves 15-35 cm long leaflets 7-15 broadly DESCRIPTION: Shrubs, lianas, or small trees up to 5 m tall, leaves variable 2-18 elliptic, 5-13cm long 2.5-8 cm wide, glabrous; flowers in erect 2-3 times compound cm long, 0.9-8 cm wide, glabrous, stipules 2.5-16 mm long, adnate to petioles only umbellate inflorescences; calyx a low, undulate rim the lobes poorly defined, petals at base; flowers in terminal paniculate inflorescences 3-25 cm long. 5-7, pinkish or yellowish green, fruit blackish purple at maturity, globose.

Maua, a’e ‘Ohi’a lehua Xylosma hawaiiense endemic endemic FLACOURTIACEAE (Flacourtia family) MYRTACEAE (Myrtle family) DESCRIPTION: Dioecious trees up to 3-9 m tall, bark dark gray, branches stiff; DESCRIPTION: Extremely variable ranging from small shrubs to tall trees, leaves leaves thick, ovate to broadly elliptic 7-14 long, 3-8 cm wide, glabrous, margins vary from round to narrow, with tips that are blunt or pointed and with surfaces that crenate; flowers 5-10 in 1 to several short cymes, nectary disk 4 lobed; berries are smooth or woolly, young leaves usually are reddish or pink, old leaves dark deeply reddish purple, broadly ovoid. green; flowers range in color form dark red to light pink or yellow, the color comes from the numerous stamens which are from half an inch to an inch in length; the Naupaka kuahiwi bark is rough and scaly and the wood is hard and dark red; the fruit is a Scaevola gaudichaudiana endemic filled with many tiny seeds. GOODENIACEAE (Goodenia family) USES: poi boards, bowls, idols, kapa beaters; tea (leaves); black dye (bark); lei- DESCRIPTION: shrubs or small trees; smooth to hairy young branches with thin, lehua blossoms sacred to Pele smooth to densely hairy oval or narrow light green leaves; flowers are smaller than beach naupaka and are either white, yellow or lavender, the corolla has five winged Olopua, Pua lobes and a tube split halfway or more down one side, five short stamens form a ring Nestegis sandwicensis endemic around the style; fruits are black, drupaceous and contains two stones. OLEACEAE (Olive family) USES: subject of a modern Hawaiian legend involving two separated lovers DESCRIPTION: Tree reaching heights of 60 feet, leaves are leathery, narrow, 3-6 DESCRIPTION: shrub growing 3-9 feet high; numerous fine brittle stems and in long and light green on the underside; flowers are perfect, palle yellow and branches covered with numerous small leaves about ½ inch long and 2/10 inch wide clustered at the leaf axils; fruit is an ovoid dark blue drupe about ½ inch long. alternate, stiff, leathery, very short stemmed and oblong with the tip blunt or pointed USES: adze handles (fine textured very heavy hard wood); fish hooks, spears, and the base blunt or wedge-shaped; upper surface is smooth while the undersurface rasps; fuel wood- burns hot even when green appears whitish; flowers are small and inconspicuous in the leaf axils and are five parted tubular; the fruit is a globular pink, red or white dry drupe about ¼ inch in Pala’a diameter. Sphenomeris chinensis indigenous USES: smoke cleansing- Hawaiian culture (dispensation for ali’i chiefs); red and LINDSAEACEAE (Lace fern) brown dyes (bark); cremation of outlaws (wood); lei (leaves and berries) DESCRIPTION: light brown, smooth, shiny stems, one-half foot to a foot long; fronds are smooth ovate pointed that are as long as the stem o longer; subdivided ‘Uki ‘uki three times; the smallest divisions are wedge-shaped; sori are located close to the Dianella sandwicensis indigenous edge with a covering only at the top. LILIACEAE (Lily family) DESCRIPTION: long narrow smooth leathery leaves with close, longitudinally Palapalai parallel veins 1-3 feet long by ½ to 1 inch wide forming a two-rowed cluster along a Microlepia strigosa endemic short erect stem; flowers are small and bluish arising form a branching flower stem; DENNSTAEDTIACEAE (Hay-scented fern) fruits are blue berries. DESCRIPTION: similar to the Pala’a in having three subdivisions of its fronds, but USES: dye (berries); house thatching (leaves) it has larger softer appearing fronds commonly one to three feet long and is hairy; the rhizomes are covered with pale yellowish hairs; sori are found at the tip of the ‘Ulei veinlets of the last segments of the fronds. Osteomeles anthyllidifolia indigenous ROSACEAE (Rose family) Papala DESCRIPTION: sprawling shrub to small trees; leaves are compound consisting of Charpentiera sp. endemic 11-25 oblong leaflets ½ inch long arranged in pairs with an extra leaflet at the tip; AMARANTHACEAE (Amaranth family) young leaves are silvery gradually becoming smooth; flowers are white and rose- DESCRIPTION: forest trees with alternate lanceolate, elliptic ovate or obovate like loosely clustered at the tips of branches, ½ inch in diameter with 5 petals, 5 leaves that are leathery often with a thickened margin; young leaves are slightly to , and many stamens; fruits are 1/3 inch diameter, white, round and sweet densely hairy; flowers are borne in slender smooth or minutely hairy compound tasting with five stones. panicles 4 to 24 inches long in the leaf axils; the wood is light and flammable. USES: fireworks (the soft wood rubbed with kukui oil thrown off cliffs into the Uluhe wind) Dicranopteris linearis endemic GLEICHENIACEAE (False staghorn fern) Papala kepau DESCRIPTION: fern with fronds that fork repeatedly an indefinite number of times, Pisonia sp. (sandwiscensis, brunoniana, umbellifera) indigenous bearing a pair of pinnae 6-9 inches by 2-4 inches at each fork as well as at the tip; NYCTAGINACEAE (Four-o’clock family) these are cut into narrow lobes about ½ inch wide; sori are irregularly spread on the DESCRIPTION: Trees or large shrubs up to 30 m tall with soft, brittle wood, leaves underside of the pinnae. elliptic at least 20 cm long and 10 cm wide, opposite or pseudowhorled; flowers perfect or unisexual, fruit is long, prominently 5 ribbed, ribs very sticky. Invertebrates USES: catching birds (sticky gum exuded by fruit was rubbed on branches native Snails birds would land upon) The entire genus of Achatenilla tree snails, which is only found on Oahu, is listed as endangered. Mustilina is the only species found in the Wai’anae mountain range Pukiawe where as the Koolaus’ host a wide variety of species, some of which are restricted Styphelia tameiameiae indigenous to specific ridges. The population of mustilina in Kahanahai’iki was first EPACRIDACEAE (Epacris family) discovered by Joby Rorher and Kapua Kawelo in 1996, and has been informally monitored since. Recently, we put in two snail plots to more intensively monitor Abbott, Isabella Aiona. La’au Hawai’I Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants. 1992. their population, reproductive rate and impacts of predators. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu.

Arthropods Krauss, Beatrice H. Plants in Hawaiian Culture. 1993. University of Hawaii Press, A survey conducted by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently in progress. Honolulu. This is a base line survey meant to assess what the status of the arthropod fauna is, as there has been no such survey to date. It is possible that there are some candidate Valier, Kathy. Ferns of Hawaii. 1995. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. Drosophilla sp present along with other rare insects. Vertebrates Wagner Warren, Derral Herbst, S.H. Sohmer. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Birds Hawaii. 1990. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. The native flycatcher, Chasiempsis sandwichensis gayi otherwise known as the Elepaio is a species of concern on Oahu. It is heavily impacted by avian pox and avian malaria. We have done some surveys using playbacks of Elepaio songs and have found three individuals, two males and one female in the gulch.

Bibliography